oh yes, sorry, I meant a340. I was thinking the AF 777.

Air India 1 arrival at 2:24pm!

Air India (AI) #1 ? FlightAware

https://igcdn-photos-b-a.akamaihd.ne...85850223_n.jpg

https://igcdn-photos-a-a.akamaihd.ne...30366679_n.jpg

https://igcdn-photos-c-a.akamaihd.ne...47393868_n.jpg

https://scontent.cdninstagram.com/hp...62314323_n.mp4

Source: IG @ planelovers15

whats the significance of the air india 747?

+1, someone enlighten us plz

PM of India is in town

It's the "Air India One" since the prime minister is in town these two days, basically the equivalent to America's Air Force One. The difference is, iirc, when the VIP's aren't using the Air India aircrafts, they are operated as normal commercial flights to the public.


Edited: The 747's will be replaced by 773's soon:
http://www.hindustantimes.com/india-...1-1337309.aspx

It's kind of cool that they basically change up the interior of the plane to fit the PM's requirements such as a bedroom, business class seating for media and even a smoking room. The uncool part is the plane has no defense capabilities such as AF1.

Travelling to TPE with CX J on 77W mid may

BR's J offering sucked monkey ball. So, although it takes longer and needs a connection, I'm giving CX a try this time.

I fly DCT YYC-HKG on CX all the time :whistle::whistle:

But wait until the 350's start rolling in and begin their Long Haul service... we'll see what happens then!

For the Aeroplan Flight Reward users:

Question:

I am flying a round trip to Asia but I would like to fly in Business class for 1 segment of my trip. Is there a way to do this?

A = YVR to SIN <-- I would like to fly Business class for this.
B = SIN to HKG
C = HKG to YVR

Right now, when I am using their web availability/booking system and it seems as though I cannot choose specific preferred cabins for each segment. Has anyone ever done this?

If I can't do it, then I am forced to redeem a 1 One Way Business for trip A, then purchase 1 Round Trip Economy with stopover for trip A, B, C, and pretty much skip the trip A economy... (really stupid if this is the case)

^ post that question in Flyertalk in the AP section. If there's a way to do it, they'll know of it.

As far as I know, the only way is to check the "Business cabins only" box and plan an the entire itinerary in J. Or leave the box unchecked and hope the system gives you the classes you want for each leg. Could be wrong though.

The old tired 747's that EVA is flying out YVR sucks. I want to fly their new 77W's with wifi, Dom champagne in J and Rimowa amenity kits. :accepted: Currently they fly them further down from the west coast and occassionally from SEA.

Well, you're going to have to redeem for an AP Biz ticket if you want to do this as one trip with the stopovers - there's no way to have them charge you Biz one way and then Eco the other way without splitting up the ticket. AP will charge you for the highest class used on the trip no matter what. My suggestion is why not do a paid ticket SIN-HKG because it's really cheap, less than the fuel surcharge that AP will hit you with?

Tiger, Jetstar, Scoot, Air Asia et al. are hovering around $100-150 for a one-way ticket to HK. So you can do a one-way Biz to SIN, and then do a one-way Eco HKG-YVR.

Otherwise, suck it up, apply for an Amex Gold Rewards or Aeroplan card, top up your AP account with the 25K miles you get and redeem for full Biz round-trip. PM me for a referral. ;)

TL;DR: No can do if you want the cheaper price on the return leg in terms of points and have stop-overs. Also, read this thread: Premium Economy Pricing Glitch on AP. Might be useful.
I think he wants to pay for Biz on one leg but not on the other leg, but AP won't let you do that.

Thank for the reply! What I was curious about is if I can just pay a little extra Aeropoints to fly Biz on one of the segments~

I think what I will have to do (after reading about this) is:
One way Business - YVR to SIN (75,000AP)
- purchase sin to hkg -
One way Economy - HKG to YVR (37,500AP)

I could do the whole trip in economy with the stopover for 75,000 but the layover and transfers for the first segment is just brutal, especially for the opportunity costs involved. I was looking into purchasing the business upgrade for the first segment just because the flights and transfers worked out way better.

Where's your stopover? If its HND/ICN you can try to get SQ J which is awesome. You can't get SQ J in NRT though cause they don't allow redemption for the A380 :(

Don't fly BR out of YVR. The new planes flying out of LAX or SFO are a great J product. Reverse herringbone and rimowa amenity kits. No Dom anymore though - that's been replaced.

What routing are you trying to take to SIN and what dates?

BR is going to be a nice flight out and you can transfer to SIN through TPE. Fly YVR->LAX/SFO->TPE->SIN.

You could probably do YVR->HND->SIN, but YQ is going to be high with ANA.

I wouldn't waste points on AC or UA J, but that's just me.

Don't do ANA out of YVR because it's their business cradle seats on the 787 - i don't know what NH was smoking when they assigned that plane to this route. Do YVR-SEA-HND instead because that one gets the flat seat 787, and they're switching to the 77W with the new First Square and staggered Business Square seats. Agreed on not wasting points on AC J or UA J - except if it's the new AC 787 J.

I am eyeing out my flights for December since last time I had to settle with shitty transfers due to the winter season being all booked up. (Anyone have any ideas when the best time to book for Winter is? I'm scared i'm going to be too late, and i'm hesitant that I am too early right now)

@DaFonz: I am trying to route from YVR to SIN on Dec 17. I don't see any BR flights available on the AP site~ Anoher option I could do was suggested by someone here saying to fly to HKG then purchase jetstar/tigerair to SIN which I can do and just fly Y in AC..

@roastpuff: Thats why I am leaning away from spending my points on ANA out of YVR, the plane is horrid... The other options is AC J to PVG or HKG then SQ J to SIN or AC PE to HKG then UA Y to SIN (cheaper in points and faster in terms of trip duration)...

G, EVA has blocked booking their space in advance, they only release space 3 months in advance of departure date now. My suggestions regarding ANA or EVA is the same - do a YVR-SEA-HND/TPE-SIN routing which is allowable and well within MPM. You'll get a much nicer business class, promise.

I'd skip AC J to PVG or HKG, and do AC J on the 787 to NRT instead - it's the newest plane in the fleet with the best product on AC.

I'd actually suggest taking the business on the way back.

The obvious difference of J vs Y except the seat is the baggage allowance. And I don't know about you, but whenever I come back from Asia, I'm back LOADED of stuff. Plus, I notice I usually have worse jetlag on the way back as I adjust myself to the extra long day. So being able to take a good rest on the return actually makes more sense to me if I were to pick.

To make the argument more appealing, why not take the other way home? You can do SIN-EU (ZRH, FRA, CDG... etc) and do SQ+AC/LH/LX. I have always enjoyed European airports, and I used to do it when I was travelling using my own points and when I couldn't find a direct flight. Although check on the MPM. I used to do this to fly into YYZ/JFK. Not sure if it's permitted for YVR.

On a separate topic, it's my first flight with CX/OneWord in a long while. Which lounge is best in HKG? I have a 2hr layover before my flight to TPE.

Thanks for the replies! Great insight.

@Roastpuff: Unfortunately, the AP site does not currently have the YVR-SEA-HND/TPE-SIN routing. Perhaps it will later on as you stated a '3 month in advance' release? Although, I am scared 3 months prior to Dec will be very hectic to book/get the flights you want..

The AC to HKG is in the 77W, and the AC to PVG is in the 788 :) so maybe I will lean towards the PVG flight haha

@Hehe: On the way back I fortunately have a direct from HKG to YVR in economy, and I do not mind that. It's 11-13 hours, but I rather have it for the longer and more tedious route to SIN. I was also hoping to gain some lounge access in international lounges via J tickets.

Baggage allowance is pretty nice, but I should be gravy since I don't purchase a lot and has never been a problem for me :)

I will be meeting up with other friends in Singapore for our first part of our SE trip while ending in HKG then back home so unfortunately I will have to route my trip this way.

It was never permissible to YVR, you couldn't make MPM. I think they've cut the MPM so you can't do YYZ-Asia via EU anymore, they've tightened it up considerably. There is a new thread here with the new permissible MPMs: Aeroplan City-Pair Mileage - Pseudo-MPM

Return in J makes sense to me as well, but YMMV.

As for lounges in HK, the two best are probably Cathay's The Wing, which has a F section if you're OWE or flying F, and Qantas' lounge which is the newest in HK, again with a F section as well. If you're arriving in HK on CX in J or F, there is also The Arrival which is nice to freshen up at before hitting the city if you're arriving early or you have some time to burn before check-in at the hotel etc.
G, the YVR-SEA-TPE/HND-SIN routing will rarely show up on the site, you might have to call to book it. You will need to note down what flights have space and then feed the segments to the AP agent as they're not usually the best at finding these routes...

One suggestion is to use a site like Expertflyer or KVS Tools to look for the award space before booking via phone. Otherwise, Award Nexus is free and pretty useful too! Award Nexus

BR is the one that releases 3 months in advance, whereas NH releases 330 days out (or something like that I think). You can also look at Asiana (OZ) to go YVR-ICN-SIN though the flight time is a bit longer.

To be honest, transiting in China is a big turn-off for me. I'd budget plenty of time if you do end up going there, as flight delays are common and immigration can be a pain in the ass.

I've just run a quick search, see the following results:

YVR-SIN
http://i.imgur.com/NIByZsk.jpg

SEA-SIN (Dec 18th, you can easily find space YVR-SEA on AC or UA shuttle flights)
http://i.imgur.com/sPHrWHh.jpg

If possible I'd definitely take the all ANA flights SEA-NRT-SIN as that would be the quickest and most efficient way.

@Roastpuff:

Thanks for the info! I was looking at the same flights on the AP site too haha.

Unfortunately, I am trying to leave on Thursday and arrive Friday Morning. Otherwise I would definitely look into the SEA-NRT-SIN route.

I will most likely book my whole itinerary in mid to end of May. Do you think that's a little early on booking? A couple years back I booked a trip in September for a December trip and it was perfect with all direct flights etc. but it was after waiting weeks of searching on AP site and horrible transfer route results. I read on FT that this a rare occurrence...